William Sawtrey was a follower of John Wycliffe.

Richard Scrope colluded with the Earl of Northumberland to overthrow Henry IV. Scrope was the Archbishop of York.

The Archbishop's revolt was crushed with the aid of the Nevilles and the king had him executed.

Edward Seymour, the Earl of Hartford, and Duke of Somerset was given the title Lord Protector and was given the task of ruling England while Edward VI was too young to rule unaided.

Jealous of his elder brother's power Thomas Seymour married Catherine Parr to enter the household of the young King Edward and the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. ¹

A condition of King Henry VIII's will was the marriage of his son Edward to Mary, Queen of Scots. It was his hope to unite the two nations. But the Scottish refused to comply. So Somerset, the Protector of England took an army in Scotland. These events were part of a series known as the 'Rough Wooing'.

Thousands of Scots gathered near the town of Musselburgh, just to the east of Edinburgh. They faced an English army led by the Duke of Somerset. The Scots had a good position on the battle field but wasted it when they attacked. The Scots were heavily defeated. The defeat at Pinkie Cleugh was a threat to Mary, Queen of Scots, and so she was secretly moved from Stirling Castle to the Augustinian Inchmahome Priory located on an island on lake Menteith. ¹

Thomas Seymour, the Protector's brother, had married the late king's widow Catherine Parr. Suspicion fell on Thomas after the untimely death of Catherine in late 1548 and it was suspected that he wanted to marry Elizabeth, Henry VIII's daughter. He may have also tried to bribe the young king Edward VI into giving him more power. Thomas was arrested, charged with treason and sent to the Tower of London. Without much of a trial he was exectuted.

Jealous of his elder brother's power Thomas Seymour married Catherine Parr to enter the household of the young King Edward and the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. ¹

Thomas Seymour, the Protector's brother, had married the late king's widow Catherine Parr. Suspicion fell on Thomas after the untimely death of Catherine in late 1548 and it was suspected that he wanted to marry Elizabeth, Henry VIII's daughter. He may have also tried to bribe the young king Edward VI into giving him more power. Thomas was arrested, charged with treason and sent to the Tower of London. Without much of a trial he was exectuted.

To help consolidate his links to the North Athelstan married his sister to Sihtric, the Norse King of York. A condition of the marriage was Sihtric should become a Christian. The marriage was short-lived as the Norse King died in 927.

With the death of Sihtric, the Danish leader in the North of England, Athelstan was able to then drive out the Dane's sons. This left Athelstan the master of Northumbria. His attacks on the Welsh and the submission of Constantine the King of Scotland and Owen the King of Cumberland led to him becoming overlord.

The Dane Olaf Guthfrithson or Anlaff (possibly Sihtric's son), Owen of Cumberland and Constantine, King of the Scots sailed into the Humber to invade Northumbria. Athelstan's speed at raising his army that marched north put paid to any plans of invasion and a fierce battle occurred (Brunanburgh near Beverley ?) in which many Danish kings and earls were killed. Olaf Guthfrithson fled to Ireland. Edmund, Athelstan's younger half-brother also took part in the battle.

Lambert Simnel arrived in Ireland claiming to be Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, one of the young boys who had been locked up in the Tower of London by Richard III because they were rivals to the English Crown. John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln who himself had a claim to the throne backed Simnel's claim and raised funds and an army. When they landed in Ireland Simnel was crowned by the Irish at Dublin as Edward VI. ¹

Lambert Simnel and the Earl of Lincoln landed on the Lancashire coast in early June and with some support from the locals were able to win a battle at Bramham Moor.

Henry VII fought the Earl of Lincoln and Lambert Simnel at the Battle of Stoke. The English throne was at stake. Simnel was captured and Lincoln was killed. This battle ended the Wars of the Roses. The king realised Simnel was just a puppet in Lincoln's scheme and pardoned the young boy. ¹

King Henry VI had by his side at St. Albans the Dukes of Somerset and Buckingham, Lords Pembroke, Northumberland and Devon and around 2,000 Lancastrian men. They tried to hold the town against the Yorkists led by Salisbury and Warwick but Warwick was able to enter the town through an unguarded spot and attack the flanks of the Lancastrian barricades. Although this battle was small it left the Duke of Somerset dead along with Lord Northumberland and Clifford. As a result of this victory power again swung to the Yorkists although support from the Barons was not total. Richard, Duke of York, again became Protector of the Realm and the powerful position of Captain of Calais was given to the Earl of Warwick.

The Lancastrians's Court was in Coventry at the time of the Yorkist rebels entering London. When news reached them, the Lancastrians moved south to Northampton to meet the rebels. The Yorkists led by the Earl of Warwick wanted to talk but the Lancastrians led by the Duke of Buckingham wanted to fight. Although the Lancastrians had less men than the Yorkists, they did have control of a stronger position. The Yorkists managed to defeat the Lancastrians due to a section of the Lancastrian army led by Lord Grey of Ruthin moving away allowing the Yorkists through. Orders were given that the King and ordinary men should be spared, while the knights and lords should be killed. When the fighting was over the casualties were light, but the Lancastrian leaders, Buckingham, Shrewsbury and Egremont were dead and the King was captured.

In late 1096, Stephen of Blois, his brother-in-law Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, along with his cousin Robert, count of Flanders set out for the Holy Land. They reached Constantinople in May of 1097 and were warmly welcomed by Emporer Alexis. They then joined the main party of Crusaders and helped capture the city of Nicea.

At the end of May, after a hard winter where the Crusaders has made no real gains, Stephen of Blois decided to abandon the Crusade and return home. He assumed that the Crusaders would not succeed and his excuse was that he was ill. But the Crusaders did succeed and in June, the city of Antioch fell. By the tiime he had returned to France, news of his desertion had already arrived.

Accused of desertion and under the threat of excommunication, Stephen of Blois, and several of the other knights who deserted with him returned to the Holy Land to make amends for their actions. But their crusade was to end in disaster with many crusaders killed or captured. Those that did survive made their way to the coast to find ships to take them home.

Stephen found himself trapped in the city of Ramleh. He was killed and his fellow Crusaders were either also killed or captured after they attacked the large Moslem army that surrounded them. ¹

David, the eldest son of Robert III, King of Scotland, was arrested by his uncle, Robert the duke of Albany and locked up in Falkland Palace where he died in 1402. This led to James I becoming the next king of Scotland.

Mary Stuart hoped that she could return to Scotland through England but Queen Elizabeth denied her request. Instead Mary and her entourage left France from Calais in a small flotilla of ships and set sail for Scotland. The voyage was hazardous as the English fleet were looking for her. But thick fog aided her escape and five days later the ships arrived at the port of Leith, now part of Edinburgh. Mary was met by her half-brother James Stewart ¹

George Gordon, the 4th Earl of Huntley rebelled against Queen Mary and at the battle of Corrichie his supporters were defeated by the Earl of Moray. Huntley died at the battle but not from a wound but because he was overweight and the strain of the events was too much for him. ¹

James Stewart, the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland, and half-brother of Mary Stewart, was escorted from France through England to Edinburgh where he was declared Regent of Scotland to the young King James VI.

James Stewart, acting as regent to the young King, was assassinated by a member of the Hamilton family. It would be several months before a new regent was appointed.

Canute had the treacherous Ealdorman Eadric Streona of Mercia killed.

The construction of the abbey church of St Denis in Paris, the first Gothic Cathedral was begun in around 1140. Combining stained glass windows, flying buttresses, choir vaulting and rib vaults, it was a daring innovation in architecture. The specifications were set by the abbot of St Denis, Suger. ¹

The Pope left Viterbo in January and travelled to France. At the start of April he met the King at Dijon. It was agreed that Abbot Sugar would take care of France while the French King was away and the Pope and Abbot met several times. ¹

King Louis VII of France and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine began their Crusade. They declared Abbot Suger regent of France,

Catherine Swynford was the mistress of John of Gaunt. She may have been the governess of of John's daughters by his first wife. After the death of his first two wives, Blanche of Lancaster and Constance of Castile, John married Catherine. They were married at Lincoln Cathedral.

The children of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford born before their marriage were legitimated by an Act of Parliament put forward by King Richard II.